OpenStack Summit is in that sweet spot where the marketers have just started paying attention. Meaning: The commercial aspect hasn't come to dominate the show. It still gathers key users and developers — but there's enough budget to keep the coffee and beer flowing.

Moreover, the show is at a size where it still visits cities that are off the beaten path. Sure, San Francisco is nice, and Las Vegas is... well, San Francisco is nice. But it's fun to visit cities such as Vancouver, where the Summit was held last summer, or Austin, Texas, where we were last week.

Barbeque, beer, and longhorns were all persistent themes at last week's OpenStack Summit, as you'll see in the photos below. I didn't get a picture of the estimated 1.5 million bats spewing out from the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge (daytime photo above), but you'll get to see the expo floor and the party that took over Rainey Street.

[caption id="attachment_35502" align="alignnone" width="300"] Mirantis and Ben Silverman clearly got the Austin vibe.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35484" align="alignnone" width="300"] The Summit show floor featured plenty of spots to sit and work. Much appreciated.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35501" align="alignnone" width="300"] Sheena Gregson (Mirantis) takes a break from show duties to chat with Jonas von Paulgerg-Nyrén and Anthony Davis (Canonical).[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35485" align="alignnone" width="300"] What's next for EMC and Dell? Only the big black box knows.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35486" align="alignnone" width="300"] HPE held demos at the Textile Building across the street. The local color was a nice touch.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35487" align="alignnone" width="300"] HPE's Daryl Wan demos Helion OpenStack to a captivated media crowd.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35488" align="alignnone" width="300"] HPE used Urb-E fold-up scooters for a very hands-on IoT demo. These things can do 50mph, they told us.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35489" align="alignnone" width="300"] HPE's cloud-in-a-box. Not a product, it's a 16-port switch and 24 TB of storage that fits in an airplane's overhead compartment.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35498" align="alignnone" width="300"] Tuesday night, 11 sponsors took over Austin's Rainey Street for a night called StackCity. Let's have a look.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35491" align="alignnone" width="300"] Intel offered grown-up-sized Jenga at Half-Step.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35490" align="alignnone" width="300"] Jill Lovato (Linux Foundation) and Roz Roseboro (Heavy Reading) at OPNFV's bash at Javelina.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35494" align="alignnone" width="300"] Some StackCity parties, like Red Hat's at Bangers, filled to capacity.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35493" align="alignnone" width="300"] Bangers offered some pretty good German food, if you could find it.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35492" align="alignnone" width="300"] Didn't catch their name, but this trio played some searing blues-rock at the Red Hat bash.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35495" align="alignnone" width="300"] Chillin' with Cisco at Icenhauer's.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35496" align="alignnone" width="300"] A quiet moment with SRV at the Parlor Room.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35497" align="alignnone" width="300"] IBM's new definition of "Big Blue," at Clive Bar.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35499" align="alignnone" width="300"] Canonical called dibs on Austin's Container Bar. Make of that what you will.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35523" align="alignnone" width="300"] Back to work. Neela Jacques (OpenDaylight) talks SDN with Brian Singer (AT&T), Christopher Price (OPNFV/Ericsson), Colin Dixon (OpenDaylight/Brocade), and Alex Zhang (China Mobile)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35525" align="alignnone" width="300"] I have no idea what was happening here, but it drew quite a crowd. Kudos, VMware.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35500" align="alignnone" width="300"] Lost among the infographs, which were drawn by ImageThink.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_35483" align="alignnone" width="300"] Right outside the Austin Convention Center, you've got this. Who needs OpenStack?[/caption]